Teaching Tip: Best Practices for Crafting Multiple Choice Questions

[Rowena Li]

The Center for Teaching & Learning

Multiple choice questions are a good way to quickly determine students' basic understanding of the class material. They also standardize grading and can be less work to grade. This week's Teaching Tip is "Best Practices for Crafting Multiple Choice Questions." The tip describes components of a multiple choice question and provides key guidelines for writing an effective one.

Read the full tip at http://ctl.qc.cuny.edu/best-practices-for-crafting-multiple-choice-test-questions

Once you have crafted your multiple choice questions, consider how you'll grade them. Queens College uses the Scantron system for automated grading.

Next:

1. Choose a form. There are two different Scantron forms available for use. To help you decide which form to use, click on this link: http://bit.ly/which-scantron-should-i-use
2. Then fill in an answer key. An example of each type of key can be found here: http://bit.ly/scantron-overview
3. Once your students have completed the test and you have an answer key, take the test sheets to one of the campus Scantron grading locations and follow these instructions for operating the Scantron machine: http://bit.ly/using-scantron. Detailed information, including locations of Scantron machines, can be found at http://ctl.qc.cuny.edu/scantron.

You can read our past tips at http://ctl.qc.cuny.edu/category/teaching-tips. 

Best regards,